Money, Mouth Co-Located
January 2nd, 2007 by rsm
Oprah doesn’t require good press. The lady owns enough of it. I don’t know where her politics sit, but I have my suspicions as she is part of the daytime talk show lineup. I could be wrong. Doesn’t matter, celebrity gossip is not my beat.
Oprah has founded and opened a school for girls in South Africa. Wow. Yes the woman has loads of money and can do whatever she wants. So can a number of other media and sports celebrities. She earned her money fair and square and can spend it where she sees fit. From what I understand she was involved in the planning and construction as well, not just making a donation from afar. Get that? She was involved. And this isn’t some donation to a foundation whose main purpose is to “educate” which really means to lobby governments to spend more money on hot button issues like Global Cooling Warming. I’m sure those issues will be covered at her school and I might not like the presentation, but I also think that she will be ensuring these girls become women with judgement and critical thinking skills.
A private school created with private funding. Already, of course, there are critics who said the school “was elitist and unnecessarily luxurious.” Too bad, people. It isn’t government owned and run. As long as her school meets the academic standards the universities are looking for, they can do as they please. You don’t get to put your government-control paws on this, even in South Africa.
However, in all my reading today why is it that the ONLY place I have read about this has been in a military publication? Is good news THAT hard to come by? One thing pointed out by media defendants is that the news is made up of those things that are not everyday and commonplace. How many people are opening their own schools to provide real education with private funding throughout the world? (or without the assistance of the US Military and supplies from US churches and charities, another story we never get to read.)
I have faith this school will be criticized in the years to come by muckrakers looking for scandal and I have faith that this school will produce some of the best and brightest women to lead their nation.
Wow! When I read this, I thought, “Geez, am I really paying so little attention to the ‘news’ blurbs online as I click around for the comics?” This is more newsworthy than most of the crap I see on Yahoo. I went to Catholic high school. So I had to sit through a daily religion class, big deal. I got a college prep education that was head, shoulders, arms and legs above what I would have gotten at the local public school.
Oh yeah – Oprah can definitely do what she wants. It is my understanding that she is building several such schools. I am very interested to see the positive changes that come from educating women all over the world.
I was *blessed* to have been born in the United States and I know it.
The school was featured tonight on one of those rather mindless “celebrity spotlight” shows (I was held captive in the kitchen). I am not an Oprah fan, but it is her money, and, as you say, she earned it. The school cost $40 million, and, according to the story, she was involved in the design of the place.
She has already taken criticism: Why didn’t she build a school like that in the US? Why are there only two white girls in the school?
I figure it’s not my money, and considering how other “celebrities” piss away fortunes. I say good for her.
I saw this elsewhere on the web, but for the life of me I can’t remember where. I also didn’t read about it – just noted the headline. My thoughts are:
Good for her. First for providing a school – no matter who gets to attend or where it is. Second for putting all that money into circulation instead of heaping it in a bank somewhere. Last – for being involved in the planning and implementing.
I’ve always been very impressed with what Oprah has accomplished – I don’t care for her show, but she has worked hard to get where she is.